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Alfred Pennyworth
"You've lost perspective, Bruce...you're acting like a snotty little boy whose parents died and now you just want to make the bad men hurt. You want to make things right? Too bad. Nothing's ever right. The only thing we can do is cram out boots up Cadmus' ass so that it doesn't happen again. You're not going to do that if you keep acting like a preteen girl." Alfred Pennyworth is Bruce Wayne's oldest friend, his first partner, his mentor and, in many ways, the closest thing he has to a father. Despite his gruff, sardonic personality, Alfred cares deeply for Bruce and those that Bruce chooses to bring into his life. Though he has many misgivings about the choices Bruce has made, he remains Bruce's staunchest ally and closest confidant. Personality Alfred Pennyworth is Bruce's oldest friend, closest confidant and the man who set him on the path toward the man he is today. Sardonic and often rude, Alfred is intelligent, observant and Equipped with a dry, acerbic and almost cruel sense of humor, Alfred is enigmatic and conceals many facets of his personality with a veneer of sarcasm. He appears--and often claims himself--to be narcissistic, although he displays many signs of self-contempt, which would be impossible for a true narcissist. A misanthrope, he disdains most people and holds a strong contempt for most societal institutions, including feminism and religion. Alfred is an atheist and nihilistic. Despite his cynicism, he cares deeply for Bruce and the rest of the Bat Family (along with a few others, including Diana). Even while calling them idiots or twats, he is capable of putting aside his pride and apologize when he has offended them in a particularly cruel fashion. Alfred uses his flippancy to conceal his affection toward them, and he even denies it at times. Despite all of this, he really does love Bruce, Richard and the others. He may be rude and sarcastic, but he cares deeply about their health, their happiness and well-being. He often goes out of his way to lend them aid despite his natural inclination to be lazy, and there is no length he won't go to in order to protect them. He has no problem giving them unsolicited advice or voicing his opinion in regards to the choices they're making. However, he doesn't do it to be mean; he does it out of love and respect. Alfred has always been a total maverick, and he taught Bruce to be the same way. He is a man who enjoys life's vices; he has stated that he frequents prostitutes (he refers to several by name), smokes cigars from time to time, he deals with alcoholism and suffers a pain-medication addiction. A former medic and private security expert, Alfred is also an amazing detective. It was Alfred who taught Bruce everything he knows about solving crimes, analyzing clues and putting the pieces together. Richard has stated that the difference between Bruce's obsession and Alfred's obsession is that while "Bruce has a messiah complex, Alfred has a Rubik's complex". That is to say, Alfred doesn't want to solve a case to protect people or save lives, but he is more concerned with figuring out the why and the who. Alfred wears many hats among the Bat Family. Medic, technician, driver, informant, intelligence gathering, trainer, confidant, motivational speaker--he does whatever he needs to do. He refuses to let Bruce and the others give up, and often serves as peace-keeper between Bruce and the others. Alfred always manages to keep a cool head under pressure; years of military service, medical experience and working private security (to say nothing of his time with Bruce) has jaded Alfred somewhat. During such times, he has a tendency to respond with a non-reaction like "cool". He is not queasy and does not seem to have any kind of reaction to blood, gore or other such things. He's also the kind of guy who refuses to be bullied or intimidated, often respondign with boredom or sarcasm. Despite his disability, Alfred is more than capable as a fighter. He utilizes his cane in fights and he has been shown to be able to more than hold his own. He is also a skilled marksman, and it is shown that he always carries a concealed Desert Eagle pistol with him and he guards the Batcave with a shotgun. Unlike Bruce, Alfred has no qualms about firearms or killing, though he avoids killshots for Bruce's sake. History Early Life Alfred Pennyworth was born the oldest of two children to Jarvis and Pamela Pennyworth. Jarvis was a pilot for the Royal Air Force. He grew up knowing his mother was unfaithful to his father, but it was an unspoken truth. He is honestly unsure if Jarvis was really his father. His father was on active duty throughout the majority of his childhood, so he grew up living in a variety of countries, including Egypt, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, The Netherlands, Greece, the Phillipines, Kuwait, Canada and others. Alfred was obviously a bright child, which was a mixed blessing as his demanding father and enabling mother had high hopes for him. He cultivated a variety of interests, including chemistry, piano, guitar and comedy. However, his constant moving, isolation from people his own age and problems at home made Alfred something of a loner. He had no real friends growing up, not even his brother (the Golden Boy, as he refers to him even today). Additionally his father disapproved of his interests and Alfred constantly rebelled against and as a result was punished with severe physical discomfort and emotional isolation. Jarvis ways always cold toward his son. It wasn't that Jarvis didn't believe in Alfred (though he didn't approve of his hobbies), but Jarvis was an old-school Brit who believed in tough love. Jarvis' methods of punishment were also somewhat medieval; he utilized methods such as icewater baths or forcing Alfred to sleep on the lawn. Despite the abuse and emotional distance, Pamela never seemed to acknowledge it and was never anything but supportive of her husband, which only causes Alfred to resent him more. During his latter three years of high school, Alfred attended a boarding school in England, where he played soccer, demonstarted a keen interest in music--both classical and modern--and displayed a great talent for acting. Higher Education Alfred attended the Imperial College in London on scholarship, where he studied chemistry and medicine. During this time, he moonlighted as a stage actor. He performed everything from Paul Simon to Shakespeare and after a few years, joined an Improv Troupe called "Four Guys and Another Guy" that performed in seedy nightclubs around London. Alfred has mentioned the troupe received a televised special that once aired on HBO. Alfred was always considered a very talented actor and he has professed his love for the profession. In terms of university, Alfred maintained a high GPA and achieved a near perfect score on his MCAT. Despite a good deal of academic misconduct and insubordination, he graduated a year early. It was around this time that his father was revealed to be suffering from cancer. He never visited his father and did not attend his funeral, an act that has caused him to become estranged from his family. Military Service After witnessing a car bomb, Alfred was one of the first on the scene. He found helping the critically injured, providing emergency aid and more or less acting under intense pressure, Alfred felt he'd found his real calling. He soon after enlisted in the Royal Marines as a Medical Support officer to provide medical aid in the field. After basic training, Alfred was sent to serve in the first Gulf War, where his unit witnessed intense fighting and combat. During his time in the Gulf, Alfred was forced to witness and do unspeakable things that haunt him to this day. One of the most intense moments was a stand-off with a sniper, who nearly killed unitmate Victor Goodman (who Alfred took several bullets for while he recovered his body from the field). In the end, Alfred suggested they deal witht he sniper by blowing the building up. The Incident and the Debt Of all the terrible days Alfred experienced in the Middle East, the worst was during a joint operation with the Americans. During the mission, Alfred's convey was hit with a RPG. Alfred's was injured during the resulting explosion and while trying to drag a teammate to safety, he accidentally stepped on a landmine. The shrapnel tore apart his torso, punctured his neck and a lung, and nearly took off his leg. However, salvation came in the for of another army medic; a surgeon by the name of Dr. Thomas Wayne. Wayne saved Alfred's life and his leg through an experimental procedure. For saving his life and easing his recovery--it was very painful and Thomas snuck Alfred more pain meds than he was technically allowed--Alfred promised Thomas that he would repay him someday. The two remained friends ever since. Disgrace and Moving On Only months after his readmittence to the field, Alfred was foundto be sneaking pain medication for non-medical use. His leg was in constant pain, and he developed an addiction to pain meds. Because of this, he accidentally treated a patient incorrectly and nearly killed him. In the end, Alfred lost his medical liscence after a court marshalling and stripped of his rank, although he was allowed to keep his Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his service prior to his injury. Disgraced and without his medical liscence, Alfred elected to follow his other passion of detective work and military training to go into private security. He worked for many rich people around the world, providing protection for nearly a decade. Alfred's reputation was as one of the best in the business. The Wayne Murders and Aftermath In 2001, Alfred was contacted by his old friend Thomas Wayne, who had been receiving death threats and threats against his family. Fearing for their lives, Thomas asked Alfred to come to Gotham City and provide his expertise on the matter. Alfred agreed and arrived on the night of June 21, 2001. Alfred and Thomas met only once before Thomas insisted on taking his family out for family night against Alfred's advice (Thomas refused to let anybody scare his family into submission) and asked Alfred not to accompany them. Three and a half hours later, Alfred would find out they were murdered and their eight year old son, Bruce, had been shot himself. Alfred sat by the boy's side as he was mended in the hospital that night. When they went back to the mansion, Bruce hid in a secret passage for three days, no matter what Alfred said or did to get himt to come out. Alfred tried to find family for Bruce to live with, but there was none. Unwilling to let the boy go into the Foster System, Alfred volunteered to look after him as his legal guardian. From then on, Alfred and Bruce started their rocky relationship. Bruce constantly acted out no matter how Alfred tried to help him. Bruce only calmned down after Alfred started teaching him how to fight. Bruce took to the training and Alfred continued; he taught him how to shadow, how to pick a lock, how to speak a few different languages. Bruce lost himself in the training, and Alfred figured it was a good outlet for the boy. Traveling the World When Bruce was eleven, Alfred helped him fake his death and the two traveled to Europe, where Bruce continued to learn not only from Alfred, but from various masters in various subjects from around the world. Most of these "masters" were old friends of Alfred's during his many travels, including an anarchist farmer in Norway who taught Bruce about herbalism and Giovanni Zatara, who taught Bruce about the art of escape and sleight of hand. Bruce pursued each subject with single-minded obsessiveness and over time, Alfred began to understand what Bruce was doing: he was training himself to catch his parent's killer. The two constantly fought over this point. When Bruce was sixteen years old, Bruce and Alfred had a falling out to end all falling outs. He discovered Bruce not only wanted to find his parents' killer, but he essentially wanted to become a vigilante and bring down the group responsible for their deaths; a group called Cadmus. Alfred refused to help Bruce destroy himself and the two had a fist-fight. Bruce left and leapt from the moving train, vanishing off the grid. Alfred searched for Bruce for the next two years to no avail. Until, one day, Bruce just appeared to him one morning while Alfred was in the French Riviera. The two reconciled and Alfred agreed to help Bruce on the single condition that they quit once those responsible for Thomas and Martha's deaths were brought to justice. Young Justice Their big break came when Alfred managed to contact an underground information broker referred to only as "The Question". Bruce and Alfred met with him in Pittsburg, where the Question provided information that Cadmus could be found in Seattle, Washington. Together, Alfred and Bruce traveled to Washington and settled in a small town about 40 miles north of Seattle called Echo Bay. They took assumed identities while Bruce and Alfred carried on their investigation. What they couldn't know was that Echo Bay would change their lives forever. Bruce stumbled onto a group of metahumans originally thought to be the result of Cadmus testing. The events of Young Justice ''occured during this time. Alfred served as Bruce's mentor during this time, as well as an ally to the Team in general, but especially Diana, who he seemed to share a special bond with. He also held strong objections to Bruce taking on young Richard Grayson as an apprentice and only agreed to it after laying down several stringent ground rules. Recent History Alfred, Bruce and Richard served with the Team for more than a year, ending after the events of Zod's invasion of New York. Alfred was injured during the battle, but came out alright and in one piece. Alfred served as medic to the team in the aftermath and provided comfort and support to Diana and the others. After the team split ways, Bruce announced his attention to return to Gotham City as the Batman. Alfred and Richard insisted they join him. He helped the pair refurbish the mansion and the caves below into a base of operations for Batman and Robin's activities. Alfred primarily acted as an information technician in the cave, a position he would eventually gladly give over to Barbara. Notable Accomplishments What have they done? Put a bullet-point list here. Notable Victories A bullet-point list of notable victories goes here. Relationships with Others 'Bruce Wayne' Alfred serves alongside Bruce as his confidant, his mentor and his oldest friend and partner. The exact nature of their relationship is difficult to define because the two only had each other for the better part of twenty years. They care deeply for each other but bicker all the time. Bruce has claimed that they're not friends and Alfred is simply his mentor and associate, but both of them know that isn't the case. Or, at least, that isn't all there is to it. Alfred talks to Bruce in a way few others dare. He is flippant, disrespectful and isn't afraid to point out the stupidity of Bruce's actions or the flaws in his plans. But, Alfred also raised Bruce, providing a home and family when Bruce had none, and through the years, he has sewn his flesh, set his bones and removed more spent bullets than he cares to remember. More than anyone, he had earned that right. In total truth, Alfred sees Bruce as his son, although he would never say this fact out loud. 'Richard Grayson' If we're going to be honest, Richard is Alfred's "other son". Alfred was initially veheminently against Richard coming to live with them and train under Bruce as "Robin". However, Alfred recognized that Richard brought something to their lives that wasn't there before. He helped reign Bruce in and focus, and training Richard seemed theraputic to Bruce. Alfred also had heavy hand in raising the boy and he loves him like a son, just as he loves Bruce. More than anything, he is proud of the man Richard is growing into. 'Barbara Gordon' Alfred is certainly a fan of Barbara Gordon. She is such a sweet, innocent ray of sunshine and one of the few people Alfred would never treat Barbara how he treats other people. He is very defensive of her, not because he thinks she's weak but because he thinks she deserves better than to be mistreated. He loves not only the light Barbara brings around with her wherever she goes, but he loves her for the wonderful, dorky young woman she is. He hopes more than anything that she finds happiness because that is the least she deserves. 'Diana Prince' If Bruce and Richard are his sons, than Diana is his daughter. He has always connected with and cared deeply for the Amazonian demigoddess, going so far as to stand up to the likes of Queen Hippolyta and General Zod in her defense. There is nothing he would not do for Diana and in the wake of the Team breaking up, Alfred still keeps up with Diana, calling her every Sunday and sending her e-mails semi-regularly. He would pack up and drive to her in a second if she asked him to. 'Selina Kyle' Alfred finds the young thief fascinating and has ever since he busted her trying to steal from the mansion during the night of Batman's big reveal. Despite her background, Alfred finds her very entertaining and was immediately a Richard/Selina shipper. He was delighted to find out the two actually started dating and he is very supportive of their relationship. He is more playful with Selina than he is with Barbara. 'Thomas Wayne' Alfred thinks the world of Dr. Thomas Wayne. He knows the man wasn't perfect, but he saved Alfred's life and his leg, and he was a friend for Alfred during a time when everybody else turned their backs on him. Part of the reason Alfred took on Bruce as his legal ward was due to his tremendous amount of respect for Dr. Wayne. 'Jarvis Pennyworth' Alfred and his father shared a strained relationship, mostly due to his father's abuse and hostility. He blames his fractured personality on him and holds no love for the man. While Alfred has not been a perfect father to Bruce and Richard, he is doing his best and is actively working to be a better man than Jarvis was. Powers and Abilities Mundane Abilities and Skills '--Acting:' Alfred is a phenominal actor, aiding him in creating disguises, utilizing accents and straight-up lying. He also has a flair for theatrics. '--Firearms:' From his time in the Royal Marines, Alfred is an expert shot with most firearms. '--Hand-to-Hand Comabt:' Alfred is an expert fighter, specializing in Royal Marines Mixed Martial Arts and Boxing. He's reputed to have a really strong right hook and is still more than able of holding his own against Bruce or Richard. '--Medicine:' A former doctor and Royal Marine Medical Officer, Alfred is skilled in treating injuries, illnesses and other medical maladies. He is also a competent surgeon. '--Multilingual: Due to growing up in a variety of countries, he is fluent in several languages, including French, Arabic, Madarin Chinese, Spanish, Portugese, Hindi, Russian and Greek. He has a working knowledge of several others and taught Bruce all he knew. '--Musician: '''Alfred is talented with both the piano and the guitar. He is also an able music historian. '--Stealth: Alfred is an expert at remaining undetected and his specialty is shadowing. '--Tactician:' Alfred has a keen mind for strategy and tactics. Paraphernelia '--Cane:' Alfred has a cane that is secretly fitted with several features. These include a one-shot EMP, a taser (limited capacity but useful in a pinch), a mobile wireless hotspot and a nerve gas propulsion system. Weaknesses '--Alcoholism:' Alfred has a drinking problem. He's not an apathetic drunk nor an abusive one, he does have a tendency to drink far more than he should, especially considering the extent of his painkiller addiciton. '--Anti-Social Behavior:' Alfred does not play well with others. As a whole, he is distrustful, rude, harsh, opinionated and expects the worst of people. '--Painkiller Addiction: '''Alfred has suffered from a near-crippling addiction to painkillers since his time in the army. The only thing that takes his mind off the pain is working cases with Bruce and the others. Since his diminished role in the team the last year, especially since Barbara joined the team, Alfred's use of painkillers has increased somewhat. '--Reckless:' Alfred has a tendency to push himself beyond his limits, especially when he's trying to protect Bruce or the others. Notes --Alfred's faceclaim is Hugh Laurie. Trivia --Alfred's favorite color is blue. Any shade; he just likes blue. --His favorite music is classic rock, blues and jazz. His favorite artists include Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Louis Armstrong and The Rolling Stones. His favorite song is ''Green Onions ''by Booker T & the MGs. --He's always wanted to visit the North Pole. --In terms of television, Alfred loves watching cooking shows and daytime soap operas. --Alfred claims to enjoy video games, especially ''Call of Duty. According to Richard, Alfred regularly kicks his ass at such games. --Favorite movie is The Blues Brothers. --Claims to have a cameo in the film The Fugitive. Bruce doesn't believe but Richard does. There have been several nights where the pair have watched the film trying to find Alfred. --Alfred has an extensive collection of sneakers. --Loves baseball and sometimes incorrectly uses sports terminology just to get on Bruce's nerves. Category:Male Characters Category:Bat-Family Category:Chaotic Good Characters Category:Doctors Category:Characters from the UK Category:Vigilantes Category:Native of Earth-Prime Category:Young Justice Category:Season 1 Characters Category:Gotham Knights Category:Human